Improvement in rubber erasers



T. H. MLLER.

Rubber Eraser.

N0.'124,374, A PatentKed Ma`r:h 5, 1812.

UNITED STATES PATENT (DEEICE.A

TEILE H. MLLER, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN RUBBER ERASERS.

To whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TEILE H. MLLER, of Yonkers, in the county of NVestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in India-Rubber Erasers, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to erasers composed of an India-rubber body, of pencil-like form, covered by a sheath of some material that can be cut with a knife to expose fresh portions of the rubber as the eraser wears away. Owing to the difficulty which has been experienced in making these sheaths of wood, the erasers have hitherto generally been covered with paper or leather, which materials, although to a great extent adapted for the purpose, are nevertheless open to some objection, the paper being tougher than, and not so readily cut. as, the wood, while the leather is very expensive. My invention is designed to render practicable the use of wood for these sheaths; and it consists in the employment for this purpose of wood-veneer, substantially as hereinafter described.

The accompanying drawing represents the manner in which my invention is or may be carried into effect.'

Figure l is a perspective view of an eraser made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same. Figs. 2,

4, 5 are like sections of modification, hereinafter referred to.

The eraser in Fig. 2 consists of a rubber core, a, with a sheet composed of one thickness of wood-veneer, b. The eraser in Figs. 1 and 3 is composed of a rubber core, a, with a wrapper of two thicknesses, o c, of veneer. The one shown in Fig. 4 has the rubber core a. surrounded first by a thin layer of paper or equivalent material, d, covered in turn by an exterior sheathing of wood-veneer, j'. In Fig. 5 the wood-veneer g is next to the rubber, and is coated with paper, h.

Other ways may be devised for making the sheath, either in whole or in part, of woodveneer; but the above illustrations are sufficient to indicate the varied manner in which the invention is susceptible of application.

In carrying out my invention, I take a piece of wood-veneer, preferably cedar, of proper length and thickness, and, after steaming it or soaking it in hot water until it is soft and pliable, coat it with glue or other cement, and wrap it around the body of vulcanized rubber.

The edges of the veneer should be scarfed olf or beveled to make a neat joint on the exterior. I then. bind the veneer on the rubber by means of a suitable compress, using in preference for this purpose a press having a mold of the exact form of the eraser. After the veneer has been dried sufficiently to become fixed to the rubber I remove the compress or take the eraser from the press and let it dry thoroughly, after which itsext-erior may `be varnished, or finished and ornamented in any suitable 'manner'. In case paper or other material enters also into the composition of the sheath, it may be applied as above indicated.

In case the rubber core is not vulcanized, but is in the green or plastic state, the veneer may be applied thereto without the interposition of glue or cement, as described iu Letters Patent No. 122,904, granted to me on the 23d January, 1872.

The veneer may be long enough to extend twice, thrice, or oftencr around the rubber 5 or two, three, or more courses of separate veneer may be applied. If the rubber core be of small diameter, it becomes necessary to use a very thin veneer, and the sheath is preferably composed of two or more layers of this veneer. It is well in this case to so select the wood that the grain of the wood inthe one layer will cross that of the nextlayer, as increased strength can thus be obtained. This mode of making the sheath of two or more layers of veneer, with the grain crossed, is of special value in the manufacture of small erasers in which the sheath projects at one end beyond the rubber to form a socket, which may be fitted on the end of a pencil in order that the eraser may be used as a rubber tip.

The sheath possesses strength enough to re` move dan ger of its splittin g, and can be applied without requiring any external support.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s l As a new manufacture, a rubber eraser ncased in a sheath composed, in whole or in part, of wood-veneer, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my nam e to this specification before two subscribing witA nesses. n

TEILE H. MULLER. Witnesses:

JACOB HrRscH,

S. BRAIsTEn. 

